by Klaus Rohrich
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
With war looming ever larger in the Middle East the folks back home are faced with a dilemma: should we join in the public condemnation of Israel or should we denounce terrorism everywhere and demand that Hamas and Hezbollah cease their attacks on Israel? It appears the Conservative government of Stephen Harper is having to walk a fine line in continuing to support Israel's right to defend itself and placating the large numbers of Muslim-Canadians that have taken to the street in protest.
Clearly, the fact that innocent people on both sides are losing their lives is regrettable. It is especially hard when entire families, including small children, are maimed and killed. Israel is calling its response to the attacks "measured", albeit protesters in Montreal take issue with that characterization, asking if the killing of children is a "measured response".
It is clear that Israel is in a virtual no-win situation, no matter what it does. If the Israelis do nothing then Hamas and Hezbollah will continue to attack ever more boldly until Israel is forced to defend itself. as Israel has chosen to respond with a four phase plan, whose ferocity is conceived to end hostilities as quickly as possible, it will invite harsh criticism from all the usual suspects, including the UN, the EU and nearly a billion Muslims world-wide. But then, Hezbollah and Hamas would see any response that is less violent as a sign of weakness.
While this is a situation that is neither black nor white, it might be helpful if Lebanon were able to divest itself of Hezbollah, the terrorist organization not so secretly supported by both Syria and Iran. Lebanon has attempted to eject Hezbollah in the past, but has been unsuccessful, as it has neither the military resources nor the political capital to do so.
after all, it was Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, who bragged to the Israelis last week that he was the man to negotiate with if Israel wanted to gain release of its kidnapped soldiers. Israel's response, rightly, was to pulverize Nasrallah's home and office. In the process, Israel sadly also managed to inflict a number of innocent civilian casualties.
The weapons that Hezbollah has been using to attack places within Israel originated in Iran. The city of Haifa, as well as a number of smaller Israeli cities many miles from the Lebanese border, has been hit with missiles bearing 100-lb. explosive warheads and the words "product of Iran". Where are the protesters in front of the Iranian embassy protesting the use of Iranian weapons against Israelis?
These missiles are delivered to Hezbollah by way of Damascus, Syria. Where are the protesters who oppose Syria continuing to deprive Lebanon of its sovereignty and keeping hostile terrorist combatants stationed there? The conflict in the Middle East isn't just about the Israelis behaving badly. In fact, if anything, Israel has been exemplary in returning the Gaza strip and parts of the West Bank, which it occupied since the 1967 arab-Israeli war.
Israel unilaterally turned over the occupied territories to the Palestinian authority in hopes of securing some semblance of peace. Who can forget the footage of the Israeli Defense Force and police forcibly ejecting Israeli settlers from these lands? But in the end all Israel received for its trouble was more violence.
Walking the fine line of non-judgment in this conflict is a position just this side of appeasement. Israel is not the sole guilty party in this and until we recognize that there are other, much more sinister players involved, the slaughter will continue unabated.
Those protesting the Israeli's efforts at defending themselves are being disingenuous at best and cynically partisan at worst. The war in the Middle East will continue unabated until Israel is totally destroyed and every Jew is dead or until The Iranians, the Syrians and their clients, Hamas and Hezbollah do the math and realize it's cheaper to co-exist with Israel than to attempt to destroy it.
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